Describing God's Form - The Reality of the Transcendental Body
The human mind naturally tends to project its own limitations onto the Absolute Truth. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that we must abandon mundane imagination and submissively accept the concrete, authorized Vedic descriptions of the Supreme Lord's eternal, spiritual form.
The Authorized Vedic Descriptions
God is not a void, nor is His appearance left to the whims of human speculation. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that the Vedic literatures provide exact, authoritative descriptions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which must be accepted without concoction.
- We cannot concoct the form and attributes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We must simply accept the description given in Vedic literatures about the Lord's form and activities.
- Here is a description of the transcendental and eternal form of the Absolute Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord is not formless. He has His own transcendental form, which is not at all similar to the forms of the mundane world.
- The descriptions in verses 9-11 (SB 3.21) of the Lord in His transcendental, eternal form are understood to be descriptions from the authoritative Vedic version. These descriptions are certainly not the imagination of Kardama Muni.
- The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse (2.2.8) with distribution of different symbols.
Rejecting the Impersonalist Illusion
Philosophers who lack spiritual vision often mistakenly conclude that if God has a form, it must be temporary and material. Śrīla Prabhupāda fiercely refutes the Māyāvādī idea that the Lord's body is a product of illusion, affirming that His form is entirely factual and composed of pure bliss.
- The transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is complete in eternity, cognizance and bliss. However, you describe this transcendental form as a product of material goodness.
- Mayavadi sannyasis are impersonalist philosophers, and they describe the form of the Lord as maya, or false. How can one be purified by worshiping something false.
- The word mayamayam, describing the Lord's form, should not be taken to mean illusion. Rather, the Lord's form is factual, and seeing this form is the result of perfect knowledge.
- When the Lord is described as formless in the Vedic literatures, it is to be understood that all these forms, within the experience of universal knowledge, are different exhibitions of the Lord's transcendental potencies.
The Universal Form and the Deity
To accommodate the different levels of human realization, the Lord manifests in various ways. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that while the staggering universal form is described to help materialists appreciate God's power, the pure, localized form is perfectly represented in the temple Deity for the devotees' worship.
- They (materialists) are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, He is kind enough to demonstrate the virat feature of His transcendental form, and herein (SB 2.1.38) Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has vividly described this form of the Lord.
- It is clear from the available description of the body of the Lord (His universal form) that the form of the Lord is distinct from the forms of ordinary mundane conception.
- There are authorized descriptions of Visnu forms, and there are authorized representations of Deities in the temples.
Purification Through Hearing
The descriptions found in the scriptures are not merely informative; they are deeply purifying. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that by faithfully hearing and repeating the authorized descriptions of the Lord's form, a devotee cleanses their heart until the Lord's presence is directly perceived within.
- On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words.
- By this bona fide hearing process, the neophyte devotee becomes cleansed of all material rubbish, and thus he becomes attached to one of the many transcendental forms of the Lord, as described in the Vedas.
- If one reads the description of this external form of the Lord with great faith or if one hears about it or explains it to others to propagate bhagavata-dharma, his faith & devotion in spiritual consciousness, Krsna consciousness, will gradually increase.
- As the universal elements are both within and without, similarly the Lord's name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, etc., as they are described in the revealed scriptures, are factually being televised in the heart of the devotee.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda definitively establishes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not a formless void or an abstract concept, but a supreme person possessing an eternal, blissful, and fully cognizant transcendental body. To attempt to imagine or concoct the form of God is a severe mistake, one that leads to the Māyāvādī illusion of considering the Lord's form to be a product of material nature (māyā). True spiritual knowledge requires the submissive acceptance of the concrete, authoritative descriptions provided in the Vedic literatures. Whether it is the staggering universal form described to awe the materialist, the eight-inch Paramātmā localized in the heart, or the beautiful arcā-vigraha installed in the temple for daily worship, these forms are absolute reality. By faithfully giving aural reception to the transcendental literature that describes the Lord's name, fame, and form, a neophyte devotee is effectively cleansed of all material rubbish. As their faith and devotion mature, the glorious, eternal form of the Lord—exactly as described in the scriptures—is directly and factually televised within the purified heart of the devotee.
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